In this article we’ll take a look at 26 brands, an A-Z guide, that use Facebook status updates that combine visual content and brand messages to create buzz, excitement and interaction.

#1: Audi USA

When Drive (a TV network that celebrates the culture of cars and is geared toward car enthusiasts) highlighted Audi USA on their YouTube channel, Audi ran with it.

In the status update below, Audi USA shared that media recognition for their brand’s history and culture, but made sure to show appreciation by including a social link to the brand that drew attention to them.

The result was win-win-win: Audi shared their industry recognition, fans were introduced to a relevant company and Drive got some exposure and traffic for their YouTube channel.

#2: Blackberry

Sometimes keeping the message simple allows your product to speak for itself (but it doesn’t hurt if a celebrity is holding that product).

Blackberry got a lot of mileage out of this Facebook update showing Leonardo DiCaprio using the Blackberry Q10 during a photo op for 2014 Oscar nominees.

Sometimes it’s best to let a picture do the talking.

While Blackberry linked to an Oscar-related photo and news story, they chose not to do any further promotion of the Blackberry Q10 in the update and let the picture do the talking for them.

#3: Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola released a TV commercial on February 8, 2014, and then shared it with Facebook fans on Valentine’s Day.

Subtle messaging with a great story appeals to fans.

The commercial had a subtle romantic theme that worked well leading up to and on Valentine’s Day. The company’s light touch made sharing the video with their Facebook audience seem less like an advertisement.

Coca-Cola does a great job of creating campaigns that tell short stories and have subtle messaging.

#4: Dove

Dove uses Facebook’s hashtag option with their #beautyis campaign. The campaign is branded, but relies on user-generated content like selfies to tap into a younger demographic.

Brand campaigns allow for consistency in messaging across platforms.

Dove’s approach is to focus on customer input to help generate traffic and engagement without the hard sell.

#5: eBay

eBay uses multiple Facebook tactics in the update below. Hashtags, tagging, an eye-catching photo and a DIY gift idea right before Valentine’s Day all add up to engagement and click-throughs—and attention for their Style blog.

Multiple Facebook tactics can add up to big engagement.

Sometimes timing is everything!

#6: Facebook

How does Facebook use Facebook status updates? In this wonderful post, the company that “wants to keep us connected” gave fans a special gift to celebrate their 10th anniversary, a look back on our own moments over the years.

Give your fans something they want to share.

This proved to be a great tactic for keeping folks on Facebook and it encouraged viral sharing.

#7: Gap

Gap gives their fans what they want: a heads-up on sales or discounts.

Reward your fans with sales and discounts to keep them coming back for more.

Fans love to see this kind of information on Facebook. According to a Syncapse study, 42% of respondents said they like a brand on Facebook to get “a coupon or discount.”

#8: Hershey’s

Hershey‘s uses their Facebook page to bring “happy chocolate moments” to everyday and special events. This update posted before Super Bowl Sunday gave a shout-out to a recipe shared by a Hershey’s fan.

Share the love and highlight great ideas from your fans.

This post did two things: showed appreciation for a fan and promoted the company’s products with an appetizing image without a blatant sales pitch.

When asked to share their vision of the future, fans had fun sharing their thoughts and others used the Q&A as a way to voice their opinions on IE’s products.

Questions definitely get fans talking, and if engagement is what you’re after, a thought-provoking question is a safe bet.

#10: Jeep

Got some great company news to share? Jeep wasn’t shy when the 2014 Jeep Patriot won a Kelley Blue Book 5-year cost to own award. They announced the award on Facebook. It was a great way to share good news and promote a product without overtly selling.

Your fans are fans for a reason. They want to know when you have great news to share!

#11: Kit Kat

Not all of your company’s posts should be brand-centric, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be branded. Kit Kat posts fun facts and takes advantage of popular topics, but also includes their tagline, “Break Time. Anytime.” on the images they share.

Think of creative ways to use your product that tie in with popular topics.

In the update above, Kit Kat tapped into a trending topic, Chinese New Year (Year of the Horse). They reinforced their brand with a horse made out of Kit Kats and included their tagline.

#12: Lay’s

Lay’s Facebook page taps into the creative mindset of fans by crowdsourcing flavor ideas with the hashtag #DoUsAFlavor. The company throws in a little incentive with the chance to win a million dollars.

Let your fans have a say! Encourage them to give their opinions and reward the best ideas.

Fans like to be asked for their ideas; and besides, they’re a built-in focus group for your market research.

#13: MAC Cosmetics

It’s a no-brainer for MAC Cosmetics to use great images in Facebook updates. To up the game, though, the company invited fans to be part of an “interactive image experience” by uploading photos to a gallery.

Invite your fans to contribute to your content and let them know you appreciate them.

MAC played to their audience’s interests, got tons of user-generated content and lots of shares (the gold standard in Facebook engagement). Best of all, they reinforced how much they value their community.

#14: Nitto Tire

Nitto Tire recently posted about the Griffin King of the Hammers off-road race and included a picture of “The King” (their sponsored driver, Loren Healy, who won). The update played to their audience’s interests, related to their niche and reinforced their brand (and their win!).

#15: Olive Garden Italian Restaurant

Olive Garden showcases their food with “Yum!”-inducing photos to draw attention to their Facebook page. That’s to be expected of a restaurant.

What’s more impressive, though, is that Olive Garden uses their page as a gateway to customer service. They encourage customers to chat with their guest relations team about experiences at their restaurant.

Use your Facebook page to address customer compliments and concerns.

How serious are they about this? Olive Garden responds to an impressive number (more than 95%) of comments/questions people write on their wall, whether positive or negative.

When something is negative, they apologize, thank the person for the feedback and in many cases ask the person to privately message and include their email address so they can contact the customer directly.

#16: Pepsi

Pepsi sponsored the Super Bowl’s halftime show; what many have called the “best halftime show ever.” If that were your company, wouldn’t you want to keep the buzz going? The update below was liked by almost 43,000 fans!

Ride the wave of a viral campaign and follow up with related content.

#17: Quiksilver

Quiksilver‘s page plays to their audience with stunning images of ocean waves and surfers and acknowledges sponsors and events. All of their content reflects their mission to “inspire people to seek new adventures.”

Share great photos, inspire your fans and point them to other websites they’d like.

In one update, they posted an image from a video of professional surfer Matt Banting. It would have been easy enough to just post the video on their page, but they chose to help drive traffic to a website they thought their users would like. The link takes users to Stab, a print and online magazine for surfing enthusiasts that promotes the culture of surfing.

#18: Redbox

Redbox uses their Facebook page to promote movie and game rentals and announce what’s new. They’re also trying to grow their lists.

Grow your own lists with weekly giveaways.

To encourage fans to sign up for texts to receive special discount codes, Redbox updates include a chance to win a weekly giveaway. When users enter the giveaway, they have the option to sign up for text updates and/or the email newsletter.

#19: Sephora

Sephora leverages their Facebook fans to bring attention to their other social identities.

Encourage fans to engage with you on more than one platform.

In the update below, Sephora used a one-two punch when they asked fans to contribute images, and then followed up a few days later with the link to their Pinterest board where they shared fan photos.

#20: Tiffany & Co.

How to do they get it? Well, reputation is certainly part of it. But the company also takes advantage of the visual nature of Facebook: 95% of their updates include a photo and the other 5% include a video.

Share beautiful pictures and offer fans other ways to keep you top of mind when they’re not on Facebook.

Tiffany & Co. stays top of mind by offering related products and links to their fans. For example, fans can send customized cards, download a smartphone app to find an engagement ring or click over to a wedding inspiration and idea section on their website.

#21: United Colors of Benetton

United Colors of Benetton, an international brand known for their use of color, isn’t the kind of company that waits to be noticed.

Like Tiffany & Co., United Colors of Benetton creates product-related offers to keep fans engaged even when they’re not shopping the Benetton brand.

Partner with interesting brands to create bigger ideas that appeal to a wider audience.

#22: Vans

Like all pages on Facebook, Vans uses their page to introduce new products, share video, talk about upcoming events and grow their owned lists (e.g., email lists and fan base).

In an effort to build their email subscription list, Vans created a photo album to promote a new collection, The Beatles Yellow Submarine by Vans.

Entice your fans with a cool new product to encourage them to sign up for your list.

If fans want to be reminded when the shoes will be available (since it’s a few months away), they can sign up for an email alert. Voilà! A nice seamless way to engage fans and move them through the sales funnel.

#23: Williams-Sonoma

Williams-Sonoma, a brand with a full-featured online store and over 250 brick-and-mortar locations in the U.S., invites Facebook fans to in-store events. Not only will this help spread the word; it’s also a good way to entice in-person shoppers, who may have happened upon the event, to stay in-the-know by becoming Facebook fans, too.

#25: (NY) Yankees

This winter, many of the New York Yankees‘ Facebook updates focused on spring training and welcoming Masahiro Tanaka. But they mixed it up a little when the team reached out to fans to promote a free game app called Home Run Derby.

Create content or a product that’s tailor-made for your fans.

Promoting a brand-related product that’s tailor-made for your audience is a great way to change it up and reengage fans.

#26: Zillow

Zillow uses Facebook to share real estate in specific regions of the U.S., but that’s not all. Zillow leverages their access to 850,000 fans to capture a lot of information about preferences for room styles and settings.

The brand uses questions to crowdsource those opinions. On their page, you’ll notice that they use both open-ended and multiple-choice questions for market research.

Beautiful images paired with questions are a surefire bet for engagement.

An engaged Facebook audience can serve as an ongoing, cost-effective way to discover what fans like. Wrapping the information up in a quarterly report or more impromptu sharing of information could also help keep fans engaged.

Over to You

In this article, we’ve explored a multitude of creative ways brands use Facebook status updates. The key takeaway is to know your audience and what they’re most likely to respond to. Give them more of that!

It’s OK to promote your company and products, but do it in a way that capitalizes on your audience’s deepest interests and connects with them on a personal level.

What do you think? What kinds of Facebook updates have worked well for your company? What other status update approaches can you share? Please leave your comments below.

I really enjoyed reading this post Debbie! You put together a great list, and this only proves that there are thousands of creative ways we can promote our brand. Thank you for this!

deb1221

Thanks, Francine!

deb1221

Thanks for your feedback, John. It’s always interesting to see what brands are doing (and not doing!)

vivalapa

Enjoyed the post Debbie. How good it would be to see a similar one for B2B.

deb1221

Thank you! Are you thinking of any B2B’s in particular?

vivalapa

Those that don’t have any gorgeous photos to share and are not able to tell their good story in images.

ohiomary

Super article: creative ideas well illustrated and explained!

deb1221

Gotcha! That is the challenge, isn’t it? Thank you for your message, wonderful grist for the mill.

deb1221

Thank you! Appreciate it.

http://businessallstar.com Paul Serwin

Great post Debbie! It’s very interesting how these brands frame their visuals to tell a story.

deb1221

Thanks, Paul. I love to see how different businesses go about their social media marketing.

Dr. Parvin Carter, DDS, MAGD

These are wonderful examples. I was inspired to do similar status updates. Thanks a lot
Dr. Parvin Carter, DDS, MAGD.

http://www.spiderworking.com/ Amanda Webb

Great post Debbie. I notice a lot of your examples are sharing photos with short links in the description. Do you think this would be more effective than sharing a link alone? Do you think it’s because they have more scope with the image?

Marnix

Great piece! I Liked the Instagram writing you made as well. Quality stuff!

http://devlue.wordpress.com DevLue

Couldn’t wait to finish so that I can now go check out Internet Explorer. IE uses Facebook, wow!